


Bring the Warmth of the Sun

by kitestringer



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: M/M, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-25
Updated: 2010-04-25
Packaged: 2017-10-09 03:41:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/82644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitestringer/pseuds/kitestringer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remus wakes up in the Shrieking Shack, and he isn't alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bring the Warmth of the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> Marauders Era h/c. So tame I could show it to my Grandma. *g* Thanks, as always, to [](http://maverick4oz.livejournal.com/profile)[**maverick4oz**](http://maverick4oz.livejournal.com/), [](http://pirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**pirl**](http://pirl.livejournal.com/), and [](http://pollitt.livejournal.com/profile)[**pollitt**](http://pollitt.livejournal.com/) for encouragement, and to [](http://kaynyne.livejournal.com/profile)[**kaynyne**](http://kaynyne.livejournal.com/) for ensuring that I don't make them sound like total Americans. The title is nicked from Walt Whitman's _Leaves of Grass._
> 
> Originally posted in December of 2006.

When Remus opens his eyes, dawn is just barely edging past the boards over the windows, faint gashes traced in sunlight on the dusty floor, and someone is stroking his hair. He knows it's Sirius, from the smell of him and the shape of the faded-denim-clad thigh on which Remus's head rests.

'What...' Remus begins, his voice little more than a whisper, but Sirius shushes him and reaches for his wand.

'Let me take care of some of the worst of this,' he murmurs. Remus isn't sure what he means until he hears an incantation and then feels a warm tingling on his cheek where before there was only stinging pain. 'Once you're back in this house, there's really no stopping you attacking yourself, is there?'

Remus is too exhausted and confused to know how to answer. Sirius's fingers brush hair away from his neck, and then there's more, even stronger tingling.

'I would have done this while you slept, but I didn't want to wake you.' Sirius moves on to a spot just beneath Remus's ribs, which serves to remind Remus that he's naked.

'Why...?'

'Ssshh.' Sirius continues to stroke Remus's hair as he puts down his wand and reaches for something else, and then there's a glass of water being held to his mouth. 'You must be thirsty.'

Remus is thirsty — he's always thirsty the morning after a transformation, but he normally has no choice but to wait for Madam Pomfrey to arrive before he can do anything about it. He sips the water gratefully, fighting the urge to gulp it all down in one go. It cools his throat as he swallows it, and he feels more awake at once.

'Sirius, why...'

'Why am I here?' Sirius uses a cleaning spell to erase a smear of blood and dirt from Remus's knee. His voice has gone tight, his words clipped. 'You're a bit thick sometimes, you know that?'

Remus supposes he is, at that. But the fact remains that in more than six years at Hogwarts, this is the first time he's awakened on the morning after a full moon with his head on Sirius's lap, or indeed with anyone else in the room at all. 'But…'

'I stayed a dog until you began to transform back. I'd never…' He pauses, breathing harshly through his nose. 'I hadn't seen that before.'

Remus coughs, trying to clear his throat. 'I wouldn't have...had you see it at all.'

Sirius's hand, warm and dry, comes to rest at the back of his neck. 'Is it always like that?'

Remus can't help it; he snorts with laughter that becomes a coughing fit in the rawness of his throat. 'No,' he says, finally, after another sip of water. 'Sometimes it's really unpleasant.'

'Nonce,' Sirius mutters, but he takes one of Remus's filthy hands in his, and his head dips until it rests against Remus's. Remus loses track of how long they stay that way, Sirius breathing into his hair, slow and steady. Sirius must be exhausted, too, Remus realises, as he fights against his own urge to drift back to sleep.

'You should go,' Remus says drowsily. 'Madam Pomfrey...'

'Will have my liver for breakfast if she finds me here. Yes, I know.' Sirius pauses. 'Perhaps this will be what finally gets me expelled,' he muses, not sounding particularly concerned.

'I shouldn't worry about that. Seems nothing you do is bad enough to get you expelled. Besides, you're one of the best students in school--'

'One of? _One of?_' Sirius sits up with a start. 'Oh, that's it. I'm leaving.'

'Didn't James beat you on our last Transfiguration exam?' Remus asks, grinning.

Sirius struggles to his feet and glares down at him. 'You're a cold, heartless git, Moony,' he says. He pulls on one trainer, then another, then stretches until his joints crack. 'I spend my early morning hours lovingly healing your wounds, nursing you back to health, and what do I get in return? Insults. Mockery.'

'Sorry. You know, creature of the night and all that. It's in my nature, I'm afraid.'

'Filthy beast.' Sirius kneels next to him and ruffles his hair briefly before turning and heading towards the door. 'See you in the hospital wing.'

Remus listens to Sirius's footsteps as he leaves the bedroom and descends the stairs, then lays his head to rest in the exact spot where Sirius had been, to soak up whatever remains of his warmth.


End file.
